Top Al Qaeda leader killed in US airstrike in Syria

Masri was a religious judge in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, an armed group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front until its formal break with al-Qaeda earlier this year

A senior al Qaeda leader has been killed in an airstrike carried out by the United States, claimed Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Abu Afghan Al-Masri was killed near Sarmada, Syria, on November 18, the US Department of Defence said on Tuesday.

Cook said that Masri had originally joined al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and later moved to its Syrian affiliate.

“He had ties to terrorist groups operating throughout southwest Asia including groups responsible for attacking US and coalition forces in Afghanistan and those plotting to attack the West,” Cook said.

Masri was a religious judge in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, an armed group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front until its formal break with al-Qaeda earlier this year, Al Jazeera reported.

At least 141 civilians, including 18 children, have been killed in a week of renewed bombardment on the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday